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World War II was one of the most divesting and comprehensive wars in the world. This

war had a number of causes that started it. There were rising tensions between countries and an

Alliance System that entangled many of them into war into the war. Another cause of the war

was The German foreign policy, especially those of Wilhelm I. There was also the frustration of

Nationalities like Serbians who felt like their legitimate national interests were not being treated

as fairly as they should. The post war settlement tried to address all these causes so they never

happened again, especially in the treaty of Versailles. They created the League of Nations to

address the problem of the entangling alliances and tensions between countries. Then they used

the treaty of Versailles to also punish and weaken Germany for all of there policies and the

things that Wilhelm I did. They also respected the interests of legitimate nationalities by creating

new nations for them.

On of the causes of World War I was the rising tension between countries and the

Alliance System they had been using. The Alliance system was when two countries made a

mutual defense agreement to help the other in case of an attack. Because of this, when one

country was attacked, many others joined the fight because they were obligated to by there

alliances. The Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente are great examples of these entangling

alliances. The Triple alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy and the Triple

Entente was made up Great Britain, France, and Russia. These alliances were not so secret but

they were also not that public. There was also the secret Russian-Serbian mutual defense Treaty.

These alliances cause miscalculations and when a country attacks, they don¶t expect others to

join. There were also rising tensions between countries due to imperialism because they were all

trying to gain parts of Africa and it was getting crowded, increasing chances of conflict. This


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tension was also increased by the Fashoda Crisis in 1898. This competition over imperialism can

make a minor conflict a major one and many countries began to expect it.

Another cause of the war was the policies of Germany, Especially those under Wilhelm I.

The first example of this is Weltpolitik (world politics) where the goal for Germany was to

become a world power equal to Great Britain, especially by trying to build up their naval power

by creating U-Boats. This scared France and Great Britain. Wilhelm I also had this practice of

brinksmanship. Brinksmanship is the practice of risking war for very limited or no tangible gain.

Two perfect examples of brinksmanship are the first and second Moroccan Crisis. In the first

Moroccan Crisis, Wilhelm tours North Africa to support Moroccan Independence and start a

conflict with France Morocco, and Great Britain. This ultimately led to an alliance between

France and Great Britain, causing this entanglement earlier mentioned. In the second Moroccan

Crisis, France sent troops to Morocco and Germany sent their navy just to stir some more

conflict. Another Great example of Brinksmanship is the ³Blank Chek´, when Germany gave

their unconditional support to Austria-Hungary. This backing ultimately made war with Serbia

more likely.

One of the most important causes of World War I was the frustration of nationalities like

Serbia who felt that their legitimate national interest was not being treated fairly. For instance,

Serbia was feeling like their claim to Bosnia was not being taken seriously. This leads to the

creation of a Serbian terrorist group called the Black Hand. One member of this group was

Gavrilo Princip who assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This event was the one that

ultimately sparked World War I.


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The post World War I settlement tried to address these cause with the treaty of Versailles

and make it so that it never happened again. It addressed the tension and alliances between

countries by creating the League of Nations. The League of Nations was an organization in

which the nations of the world could meet to discuss problems as means to prevent war, very

similar to the modern day United Nations. It focused on reducing the need for alliances and

secret treaties because they would talk about what countries they agreed with or didn¶t openly. It

was also a place where nations could discuss their problems and issues openly so that they can

try to solve it peacefully.

The treaty addressed the foreign policies of Germany and Wilhelm I by weakening and

punishing Germany. It created the ³War Guilt Clause´, which forced Germany to accept full

responsibility for World War I, which makes punishing them justifiable. They also had to pay

massive war damages, or reparations, that were about the equivalent of 30 billion dollars. There

were also restrictions put on their military such as no draft, the size was limited to 100,000 men,

strict limits on navy, and no tanks or other offensive weaponry. Germany also lost of its colonies

and they lose other territory like the Saar Valley and Rhineland, which becomes a demilitarized

zone. All these make it less likely that Germany can go to war and it also punishes them for the

things they did that led to the war.

The post World War I settlement also addressed the interests of legitimate nationalities

by creating new nations. Poland is recreated as a buffer zone for Russia from Germany. It also

created Czechoslovakia and separated Austria-Hungary to just Austria and just Hungary. The last

nation it creates is Yugoslavia, which consists of Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia. One of the main

places nationality wasn¶t respected was in Yugoslavia. Creating these new countries helped to


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solve the problem of various nationalities becoming frustrated because they want their own

nation.